I work for US-based clients as an independent contractor and I’m wondering how much time off work an American employer would consider to be reasonable for such an occasion. Thanks!

46 comments

  1. This will greatly vary based on industry and employer. Personally, I took off a week.

  2. I have no idea how much time companies give for marriage. I would assume it’s a “use your vacation time” type of situation. We graduated from college, worked our summer jobs, then got married at the end of July. We then put down a deposit (co-signed of course) on an apartment and then went on a two week honeymoon in a cabin 40 minutes by fast boat from civilization on the Canadian border in Minnesota.

  3. I didn’t take off any time for my wedding because I got married on a Saturday but a week or two afterwards I took off a week and a half for the honeymoon.

  4. Completely depends on the employer. I can easily take off 1-3 weeks at a time.

    Do you have a shared Outlook calendar where you can see how much time people take off for PTO? Otherwise I would just ask your manager what’s appropriate.

  6. This isn’t super regimented. You would need banked leave for everything. And follow time off guidelines for your office.

    – wedding planning activities beforehand: a couple afternoons, or one or two long weekends.

    – bachelor/ette party: 4-day weekend

    – ceremony: 2 – 3 days

    – honeymoon: 1 – 2 weeks

    There’s no “wedding time” accommodation. It either works with the standard protocols for time off or it doesn’t. If you *can* take absorbent time off for a wedding so can the mountain climber to go climb mountains.

  7. When I got married my spouse and I took zero time off work. We did not have any pre-wedding events. We got married locally on a weekend date in December. We did not do a honeymoon at all.

  10. My boss only wanted to give me my wedding day off. He knew well enough in advance I needed time off. Finally got him to agree to 2 days. Got married on a Friday, shop was closed on weekends, then took Monday off for a total of 4 days.

  12. I took 3 weeks. 7-10 days seems much more typical.

    For what it’s worth, I don’t believe you should discuss the details of time off with an employer at all. There should not be any special considerations given whether you want to go fishing with your buddies or just sit on your couch eating cheese, it’s really none of the employer’s business. They shouldn’t make discretionary decisions about permitting time off according to what the time is being used for, if it’s not for protected reasons like FMLA.

    You should already understand the time off rules of your agreement, just be succinct.

  13. I took one week immediately for my wedding in Central California + a “mini-moon” staying a few nights in Big Sur, and then another three weeks about 6 months later for a honeymoon in Japan

  14. I took the week of the wedding off, and I was back to work on Monday.

    Our honeymoon has been delayed indefinitely due to logistics, but that’ll probably be another week.

  15. I took a long weekend, I’d just started a new job and didn’t yet have any accrued leave.

  19. We took 2 weeks.. never even thought about what the boss would consider “reasonable” husband had 2 weeks vacation available so we used it.

  20. Two and a half weeks, but I quit my job before the wedding and started my new one the day after my honeymoon

  21. A week is the most common amount of time anyone takes off across most fields I’ve been in (sales, retail management, banking, and web design). My husband is a software engineer and a week would be common for them too. Anything much more than 7-10 days, either of us would need to talk to our bosses beforehand. We did a destination wedding and honeymoon and took off 9 days.

  22. I took off 2 weeks. The first week was used for final wedding preparations, followed by the wedding itself that weekend. A couple of days later, we went on our honeymoon in French Polynesia, where we spent a few days.

  23. I took a long weekend for my wedding, taking off the Friday and Monday. For my honeymoon, which was a considerable time later, we were gone for two weeks, but I worked at a school at the time so it was already closed for holidays.

  24. I work two weeks on/ two weeks off. I took off one two week period. This gave me six weeks off in a row. My wife used 7 paid days off.

  27. 1-2 weeks are common

    It’s a red flag if the company acts like your role is so indispensable you can take time off. Or won’t approve it and make plans for your absence if given notice least a month out.

  28. We got married on a Monday night after we both got off work and went to work the next day.

    We had a reaffirmation of our vows with a reception about five months later when we both got a week of vacation.

  29. I took the day before the wedding off, then a week for the honeymoon. After paying nearly 100% of the cost of my own wedding, a week was all I could afford without cashing out even more investments.

  31. Companies allow you to take your PTO days for whatever you want, including getting married. They don’t specifically give time off for getting married and honeymoon. Normally people take a week or two

  32. I took a month, but a week or two is much more standard. (Half of that time was unpaid, I didn’t actually earn that much vacation, my new husband had 3 months off before grad school started)

  33. For my wedding? None. We got married on a Saturday at our favorite bar and I was at work Monday morning. We had a guest list of 4, plus a dog, plus whoever was at the bar.
    For our honeymoon we went to London, which is like a 7 hour flight. I think I took a week for the trip plus the following Monday for laundry and to relax before going back to work.

  34. I can’t remember the wedding but our honeymoon was about a month and a half later and I got 2 weeks off

  36. I took off a week and a half, minus a holiday that was mixed in there. So 7 days of PTO, 8 days away from work.

  37. I took off a few days before the wedding and two weeks off for honeymoon. We went bigger than most people I know with our honeymoon, though.

  38. I was unemployed at the time of my wedding, but my husband took two weeks off.

  39. I took off a month but that was because I had a generous amount of PTO and could bank it and I banked almost all of it.

  40. I took off a month but that was because I had a generous amount of PTO and could bank it and I banked almost all of it.

  41. It was a week for me and my wife. We got married on a Friday, then went to a B&B for the honeymoon, then went back to work.

  42. You can take off however much vacation time you have.

    I got married on Saturday and was back at work on Monday.

  44. For my wedding, one day. I got married on a Saturday and took Friday off for the rehearsal and setting up. Sunday I just crashed.

    We left for our honeymoon two weeks later, which I took off 10 days. That included 2 days of pretty much travel.

  45. I took 2 weeks, I don’t remember if I even had that much paid time off but I did it anyway. As far as reasonable, that totally depends on the employer but I would think at least 2 weeks would be acceptable

  46. I’m taking a week off before and a week off after. Honeymoon isn’t in the cards right now and we plan on doing it a little later. I’m in a good place because my employers are actually taking half the time off as well (turning my semi destination wedding into a trip of their own) so there isn’t much backlash at the office as it’s pretty much going to be closed for that week.

    My fiancé is commission so he can basically work when he wants to. He will work a little the week leading up to the wedding in our destination city but his employer doesn’t really care.

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